Twitter

Twitter is an online application that is part blog, part social networking site, part cell phone/IM tool, designed to let users answer the question "What are you doing?" Users have 140 characters for each posting (or "tweet") to say whatever they care to say. Many tweets do answer the question of what the user is doing, but plenty of others are responses to other tweets, like giving online resources that the user found interesting or questions.

Uses in General:
  • As an effective communication tool for concise messages and news items, or links to longer messages and news items
  • Twitter works with cell phones and other SMS clients, making it an easy way for mobile users to stay in touch virtually anywhere.

Uses of Twitter in Education:
  • As a communications tool for collaborating researchers
  • As a way to get students to focus in a concise (140 words) way on a topic
  • As a way for conferencing with students on discuss topics, again in a concise manner.
  • As a fun way to be effective in engaging students in discussions who do not need to write longer essays

Jing

Jing is a free, downloadable application (Mac and Windows) that instantly captures and shares images and video. It allows you to snap a picture of anything on your computer, record a video of what you are doing or what you see and then easily share those images and video with others.

Uses in General:

  • Jing is great for creating computer demonstrations or explanations.
  • You can add your own voiceover.

Uses of Jing in Education:
  • Evidence documentation
  • Online photo projects shared with parents or the community
  • Software demonstrations
  • Online training
  • Capturing images for use in lesson plans or handouts

Here is a video showing how to use Jing.



E-Pals

E-Pals is the leading global learning community used for collaboration, email, blogging and classroom matching for schools and districts. It has been around since 1996 and allows teachers, students, parents and educators to collabortate with others around the world about academics.



Uses in General:
  • A tool for collaboration/networking and research
  • Post artwork
  • Share stories
  • Language translation

Uses of E-Pals in education:
  • Collaborate with other classrooms around the world
  • Forums/discussion boards
  • Select an e-pals projecta project from another classroom or customize your own
  • Provides free email and blogging for teachers, students and school administrators



Cell Phones

A tool used for communicating to others in many different forms. The cell phone can now do much more than just communicate with others depending on the functions the cell phone as on it.

Uses of Cell phones in general:
  • Texting
  • Listening to music
  • Taking pictures
  • Using the Internet
  • Making and recieving phone calls
  • Calendar
  • Address Book

Uses of cell phones in education:
  • Takng picture (project or notes)
  • Texting
  • Calculator/Convertor
  • Using the Internet
  • Calendar
  • Contacting and absent student with information


RSS


  • Is a formate for delivering regular changing web content
  • Allows you to stay well informed if the website is constantly changing their information
  • Saves you time by not having to visit every individual web-page to find out the most up to date information
  • Ensure your privacy for not having to sign up or anyones newsletters
  • It is breif and to the point

How do I get RSS on my computer?
  • In order to get RSS feeds on your computer, you need to download a free feed reader or news aggregator software.
  • After downloading you need to go to sites that offer a RSS feed and add them to your RSS Feed Reader Checklist.

Skype:

Skype is a program online that you can use to have free internet calls with other skype users across the world.

How it works:
  • You and your friends need to download the free skype software from the skype website and then create a profile.
  • Once you and your friends have an account, you can then add them to your contact list, and turn your computer into an online phone using your internet connection.
What do you need to do it?
  • You need a computer with internet connection
  • a headset or a computer with a microphone built into it
General uses:
  • Keep in touch with our friends
  • hold different types of confrence calls with people at work
  • Collaborate with people around the world
Educational uses:
  • Hold discussions with students/parents
  • Students can have a live conversation with students from another school
  • Students can have live conversations with students from different countries
  • Classes that use different languages could try and connect with other people across the world and hold live conversations with someone.